The Twin Academies
by CloudyReflections
Summary: Angst, gender-bending, romance, sounds like your ordinary AU fic. Maybe, maybe not.


So… here we are.

Warnings: violence, abundance of corpses… the usual.

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Prologue

He couldn't believe that stupid teacher had given him detention! All he'd been doing was trying to track down whatever loser had "borrowed" his homework to copy it. So what if he'd been talking during lunch to find it?

She'd completely overreacted about the entire thing, and he'd gotten a zero in math for the day, since they'd needed the homework to do the classwork. And whoever had stolen it hadn't been caught and most likely wouldn't be.

The boy let out a few choice swear words, glad the suburban streets were empty, as many old ladies with notorious broom-whacking abilities lived in this area.

Even though it was only 4:30, the Winter Solstice was extremely close, and it was already getting dark. He picked up his pace, in a trot-like half run. The family development was only a few blocks away. The silence had him spooked; that in combination with the biting cold of December had him rushing for home.

The gates were open when he arrived, and the miniscule guardhouse was empty. He walked as far as possible to the right as he could, for some reason creeped out by the emptiness. 'Tomo is just taking a coffee break,' he thought.

The preteen slowed down, as when he walked quickly, his footsteps seemed to echo throughout the entire neighborhood.

Every house was dark, which wasn't completely abnormal considering Fridays meant dinner at the main mansion. Though most people didn't show up until 5… He noticed something in the yard at a nearby split-level belonging to his aunt and uncle.

In the twilight, all he could see was the basic shape. It rose about half a foot from the ground, about 5 feet long.

He was running again, and at the sidewalk he stopped. It was human. At first he would have thought that she'd fallen, and would get up any second. "Auntie? Auntie? Need help?" But then he saw the dark gash on her throat and the odd tint of the grass around her. The onigiri she'd been delivering to the main house were splattered over the red-green grass.

"Auntie?!" His voice cracked, and he slowly backed away. He launched himself down the street, ignoring the other wilted shapes in yards and in the road. His feet began to leave sticky crimson prints behind them.

The street ended in front of the largest house of all, his own. There was nothing, or rather no one in the in the yard of driveway. Behind him, he heard a rustle of fabric, and his breath hitched. But there was no one.

His door was hanging open, decorated by a single sweep of crimson painted over the blue wood. All of the lights were turned off, and it seemed wrong to turn them on in the midst of all that had happened. He ascended the staircase manically, in search of any human life.

There was no one in the dining room or kitchen, though there was food set out. He headed for the bedrooms. His brother's was empty, but his parents' was not.

The two of them were in the center of the room, one single crimson puddle extended around them. It sickened him to think that their puddle looked the freshest.

His knees wobbled and gave out, and he sank in to the red liquid, his outstretched arm falling a short distance short of the man who had raised him. His father was dressed in his favorite kimono with the family crest. His mother, who lay slightly farther away, had her hair up, and a lipstick tube was some distance away on the ground.

He hadn't realized, but tears soaked his face, and he raised a bloodied hand to his clammy cheeks.

And there was that noise again, this time accompanied by a dark shadow. The murderer was still there, on the hunt for him and his brother.

Where was his brother? He stood up, legs shaking, and ran out of the room, out of the mansion. He dashed weakly down the street, every step sending a scream of pain through his entire body. His knees ached from kneeling on the floor, and the concrete made his bones shake with the impact of heel-toe, heel-toe.

But he didn't care. He had to get away, warn his brother.

"Tomo!" He shouted. "Tomo!!" How had the guard not realized what had happened? He tripped on the speed bump by the gates, sprawling out over the asphalt. With his head facing uncomfortably to his right, he saw through the propped open door.

There, on the previously white tile, the man lay, facing toward him in much the same manner as he stared at the guardhouse.

Behind him, footsteps were now obvious, no longer imagined by his terrified mind. He inclined his head slightly forwards, directing his gaze backward. "Brother? Brother, get out, someone came, and they- they-" He couldn't say it.

His brother than stood directly in front of him so that he was forced to look upward. His brother was also soaked in blood. Pulling a jagged stake knife from behind his back, he said, "I know."

"Brother?!" he cried, his voice impossibly high for his twelve years.

He stepped forwards, placing one foot on his younger brother's hand. "Yes, of course I know." He ground down his boot, and his brother gave a hiss of pain that sounded like 'why?'

"Why not? I'm powerful enough, aren't I?" He ground down harder. "I have the will, don't I?" His foot continued to press harder until there was a crack, and then it moved off of his swelling fingers. His voice remained soft and calm even though he was clearly bragging.

The first born bent down, running the knife almost delicately down his brother's back, the skin splitting smoothly. "Oh yes, it gives me great pleasure to know I could kill you easily." His voice paused, and so did the knife.

"Ah, but someone," –slice- "needs," –slice- "to suffer." He traced one long line down the torn up skin before pocketing the gruesome object. "Someone needs to be the witness to such a grand display of power." With these last words, the elder of the two struck the other on top of the head, knocking him out painfully and quickly.

The young boy welcomed the darkness.

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So that's it. Seeing as this is a Naruto fan fic, I think you can guess who the characters above are. It killed me to not be able to use names, and I think it may have gotten a tad confusing near the end, but otherwise I don't think it would be quite as freaky.

Yay for grotesque stories! I'll have the next (noticeably more peaceful) chapter up some time next week hopefully. Hope you enjoyed!

~butterflies on your lips


End file.
